My Life, My Wife
by Cassie's Bedlam
Summary: Sequel of My Secret, My Sister. Natasha 'Nate' Rogers had once only been her brother's weakness, but now she had a husband and has now become the weakness of Captain America. Marriage didn't mean plain sailing for our two heroes. Especially not with the threat of Hydra looming, a person from Steve's past and whatever comes in the future. Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is the sequel of My Secret, My Sister and it's focusing mostly on Nate's and Steve's marriage and such, it will also have the events of the Winter Soldier in it.**

**I'm also very embarrassed to say that I have been spelling Steve's last name wrong all the way through My Secret, My Sister. I'm going to leave that as it is, but I'm going to write Rogers right in this story.**

**Hope you enjoy the first Chapter.**

* * *

_**"The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected." - Nicholas Sparks**_

* * *

They had only been married a month before Steve was reassigned to Washington with Natasha—Nate, of course, moved with her husband into an apartment that S.H.I.E.L.D gave them.

The apartment was smaller than anything that Nate was used to, it had a short hallway with one bedroom, one bathroom, a partly enclosed kitchen and a small living room.

It seemed smaller with the pile of cardboard boxes in the middle of the room and with the furniture pushed up and stacked up against one of the walls, waiting for Steve to move them into place.

But it was theirs, only theirs, and the only robot in the apartment would be Howie. They would be cooking their own meals, washing their own plates and clothes and cleaning the apartment on their own.

"You ready?" Steve asked as nodded towards the small mountain of boxes filled with things that they needed to unpack.

"As I'll ever be." She replied as she marched forward towards the boxes.

It took them almost three hours to unpack everything and set it in the right place before they could collapse on to their couch with Howie jumping up next to them.

"Welcome to your new home Captain Rogers." She muttered as she kissed his jaw making his arms tighten around her waist.

"Welcome to you too Mrs Rogers." He whispered against her skin before he pressed a kiss to her neck making her shiver slightly and him grin.

"We have a new bedroom to break in." Nate reminded him with an almost innocent tone that was ruined by the sly smirk on her face.

He easily stood up and swiped her into his arms which made her give a scream-like laugh before she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss.

Using only his memory as he didn't break the kiss, the Captain was able to carry his wife to their new bedroom and kick the door closed behind them. They wouldn't be surfacing for some time.

Howie gave a whiny groan before he hit the TV control with his foot so he had something to do while his owner and her partner were busy.

* * *

"Washington? You've moved to Washington?" Tony stared at the image of his sister in disbelieve. "I go out of country for a brief holiday with Pepper, and I come back to find you, Natasha and Steve have moved to Washington."

"It's only for a little while." Nate tried to reason as she moved off screen.

"A year is a bit longer than a little while Natasha Rogers." Tony said sternly making Nate gape at him.

"You never call me Natasha." Nate pointed out stunned.

"You've never moved when I was on holiday before! Washington!" Tony shot back.

"I'll talk to you every night like when I moved to New York," Nate told him, "we'll be moving back soon enough."

"A year." Tony pouted at her making her smile.

"It'll fly by." Nate reassured him.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked curious with all her moving about and the sounds he could hear in the background.

"Cooking." Nate's simple answer made him choke on his own spit.

"You don't know how to cook!" He exclaimed making her glare at him—she had their father's glare.

"I'm learning." She informed him before she cut the connection.

"Pepper!" Tony complained as he searched for his other favourite people. "Bruce! She hung up on me! And Nattie's cooking!"

* * *

Steve's new assignment came with a new team. A S.T.R.I.K.E team that he didn't trust—expect for Natasha and that was only because she was friends with them—as he didn't know if they were part of Hydra or not.

It made him uneasy going on missions with them and not know if they were really his enemy or not.

Part of him was always in combat-mode when he came back with his team to see Nate waiting for him. He always kept her pressed protectively to his side when he reached her and Natasha would flanking her on Nate's other side—the team didn't know him well enough that that gesture meant that he didn't trust him despite the jokes and such he would share with them.

It became worse when a month into their move they realised that Nate was pregnant and was due sometime in March. His hand rarely left its protective place on her slowly rounding and expanding stomach whenever they were together—watching a movie, walking around, sleeping and simply standing.

Nate thought it was both cute and annoying, but didn't try to stop him.

Steve had lost almost everything, all his old friends with either dead or had grown old without him, his world had changed greatly into a strange new world that was so different than the one he had grown up in and the one thing Steve feared more than anything was losing Nate and their baby.

It had been clear from the beginning of their relationship. It had been in the way Steve would protectively hold her, go out with her anywhere when they weren't on missions, the way he kissed her lovingly and desperately, and the way as soon as he woke from his nightmares his hand would reach for her and pull her as close to him as possible.

It was in every loving yet almost frantic moment they had sex, the way he would rest his head over her chest—and later when she became pregnant, over her stomach—as they caught their breath back and basked in the after-glow.

And Nate understood, and frankly she enjoyed the obvious ways he showed he loved her.

Nate knew if something happened to Tony, she would break, but she also knew if something happened to Steve and their baby, she would shatter.

So to lessen Steve's worry when he was away, she kept to the apartment and surfed the web for things that they would need for the baby Rogers. She began to eat more healthy, did regular exercise and took regularly took naps later in her pregnancy.

Their time in Washington seemed to be going well, they had even been able to go back to New York for Christmas, and seemed like the year they spent in DC would be uneventful. And it could have been if Hydra didn't finally make its move.


	2. Chapter 2

"_**To say one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect." – Criss Jami, Venus in Arms.**_

* * *

It should have been a normal day, a normal day of Steve coming home and them having a night in or something. But it wasn't.

Something about the last mission—or maybe Fury showing him Project Insight—had made Steve conflicted about his job and role in S.H.I.E.L.D, and he had left to seek the counsel of Peggy.

Nate understood.

Steve had joined S.H.I.E.L.D to protect people, to protect his country, and was simply to honest and good for the shady dealings the S.H.I.E.L.D did. To Steve, saving the people were the most important thing when in S.H.I.E.L.D, people could be sacrificed for information.

It had been hard enough for him to work with people that could be Hydra agents, but he had reasoned he could still do some good for the world in S.H.I.E.L.D and be in the perfect place to strike against Hydra when they were ready.

Steve had very strong morals; it was something that Tony had hated, something Bruce had admired, something Clint and Tasha scoffed at, and well Nate was in two minds. She admired his morals and his strong will—loved him telling stories of him pre-serum when he stood up against the bullies because he hated them and how he defended the weak (despite being weak himself at the time)—but she also knew strong morals could and would get him killed.

Growing up, no one had thought to instil morals into to Nate. Nanny had been a robot and didn't really have morals, and Tony had to have loose morals to make all the weapons he had in his life as well as being a successful business man.

It was at school when she first heard about morals, and her brilliant mind questioned every moral.

Nate didn't have very strong morals, she would do anything to keep those she loved safe and alive.

Steve could be the same yes, but he would never do it with the same ruthlessness she would as she destroyed everyone and anyone that dared to raise a hand against her family.

Still, even with her questionable and loose morals, she had questioned the wisdom of Project Insight and had privately thought it seemed something Hydra would use.

Nate shook her head to clear it from the thoughts before she checked the chocolate buns she had placed in the oven—chocolate was something the baby loved almost as much as she had as a child so she had learnt to bake chocolate cake and buns (Steve had playfully complained that he was going to get fat from eating all the buns, he had immediately looked guilty when Nate burst-out in tears at the word fat).

A sudden knock at the door made her stand up, alertness tensing her limbs. She removed one of Steve's guns from the kitchen draw before she began to walk—more like waddle now that she was in her eighth almost ninth month—slowly to the door.

Peering through the eyehole made her see as sight that caused her to curse before she unbolted the door and opened it.

"Nick…?"

Fury looked like he had just fought a war and had been losing.

She pressed the gun into his hand—knowing that despite the fact he was injured, he would still have a better aim then her—before helping into the apartment and to the living room. She helped him fall into the one armchair they owned before making a move to get a first-aid kit when a strong bloody dark hand wrapped around her wrist.

Nate looked at him in both confusion and concern before Fury put a single finger to his lips before handing her a necklace—a necklace that she knew hid a USB.

She took it and slipped it around her head as Fury pulled his phone out.

_**Hydra is making its move. **_

She swallowed deeply as she stared at the text.

_Oh god. _

Feeling her knees go weak, she moved to sit on the couch and reached out to pat Howie to help her calm down.

Hydra was making its move. Fury had been severely hurt—almost killed—by them already. Steve was going to fight against them. She couldn't be by his side, she was pregnant. She was a liability, a glaring weakness to Steve. Her baby was in danger.

_**They won't let you leave DC. **_Fury's message promised her as she stared fearfully at him.

"Your buns are burning." Fury drily told her, making her go and rescue them from the oven.

_My baby. Steve. My baby. Steve. Baby. My Steve. My baby. My Steve. My Baby. My Steve_. Her thoughts rambled as she dumped the ruined buns in the bin and breathed deeply through her nose.

She let out the breath shakily before steeling herself and returning to Fury's side.

_My Baby. My Steve. My Baby. My Steve. Danger. Hydra. My Baby. My Steve. My Baby. Danger. Danger. My Baby. My Steve. My Baby. My Steve._ Her thought continued to scream in the back of her mind and her head throbbed in pain as she rubbed her temples.

She couldn't afford to break-down. Not now, not when Hydra was making its move.

* * *

The sound of one of his old records made Steve pause outside the door of his apartment. Nate didn't really listen to them without him—she had grown up on Tony's loud metal-music and preferred punk/pop music herself.

He strained his senses, trying to hear the slightest sound that meant Nate was in trouble and needed him, but it was abnormally quiet under the sound of the music. He breathed in deeply through his nose and caught the scent of burned chocolate buns—Nate hadn't let any of them burn since her first batch.

_Nate._

Alarm bells were ringing in his head, something was very wrong.

_Nate._

He tested the door handle, tensing as it clicked softly open, and cautiously stepped into his hallway with the sense of wrongness growing. Nate never left the door unlocked.

_Nate._

He glanced to the side to see his shield exactly where he left it and silently grabbed it and held it ready as he crept down the hallway towards the light of the living room.

_Nate._

He peered around the corner and met two pairs of dark eyes—one pair belonged to Howie and the other to Nate—and almost sagged in relief at the sight of her.

The relief was short-lived when he realised how pale her face was and how wide her dark eyes were as she stared in horrified silence at him.

"About time you got home, Captain." Fury's voice made him step fully into the living room, shield still on his arm, and wary as he moved to stand protectively over where his wife was sitting.

"What happened?" Steve asked tensely as he took in the sight of the bloody and damaged director.

"My wife kicked me out." Fury smirked before revealing the screen of his phone.

_**The place is bugged. **_

"I didn't know you had a wife." Nate commented as her hand reached for his, he squeezed it in an attempt to reassure her. He knew it wouldn't work, but ached to reassure her though he didn't know what was happening.

"Not many do." Fury told them.

_**SHIELD has been compromised. Trust no one.**_

"I trust you." Fury got up and moved achingly slow.

Nate squeezed his hand strongly three times quickly—their silent code for Hydra—and Steve wanted to close his eyes.

He wanted to close his eyes to the world and deny it. Deny what Fury just told him, deny what Nate had warned him silently, deny that Hydra was making their move and deny the fact that his very pregnant wife was in danger because of them and because of him.

They were going to have a baby soon, and Hydra decided now was the perfect time to act? Nate wouldn't be able to defend herself against them, Steve had to protect her and their child—but part of him rebelled at the thought of not fighting against Hydra, not putting down the threat to his wife and child, not kill those that hailed from the division that had helped kill Bucky, not destroying the infection that had corrupted the division his friends had built together and not defending the world against the poison that was Hydra.

How could he chose between his wife and child—HIS FAMILY! IT WAS HIS FAMILY GOD DAMN IT! WHY?—and the world?

Shots piercing through the silence and through Fury broke him from his thoughts and he automatically moved to protect his scared wife who let out a single shocked screamed before Steve hulled her up and against him while he placed his back against the wall, his hand joining hers on her expanded stomach.

The door crashed opened and their neighbour was suddenly there with a gun in hand.

"I'm agent thirteen." She informed him when she saw him raise his shield. "I was sent by Fury to watch over you and your wife."

Carefully the agent crouched down beside the fallen director as Steve caught sight of the assassin through the broken window.

He looked at his wife with conflicted blue eyes while she looked back in understanding.

"Go." She told him and both of them understand what she was really telling him.

Save the world, Captain. I'll be fine.

And though everything in him screamed not to leave her, he did as Nate ordered and went chasing off after the assassin—not knowing that soon he wouldn't be seeing her for three long and dangerous days, not truly knowing the danger she would be in, not knowing that his past was about to give him a sucker punch in the form of a ghost, and not knowing that his wife could and would give birth in those three days.

* * *

_**"You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it." - Albus Dumbledore, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.**_


	3. Chapter 3

"_**The worst type of crying wasn't the kind that everyone could see—the wailing on street corners, the tearing at clothes. No, the worst kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it. A section withered and became a scar on the part of your soul that survived." – Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits.**_

* * *

The USB that Fury had pressed in his hand moments before he was loaded into the S.H.I.E.L.D ambulance dug in to his palm as he clenched it and watched Fury flat-line through the glass.

Nick Fury was dead. And he had left Steve with a mission.

He closed his eyes so he wouldn't see Natasha's pain, and hoped the agents that had been left with his wife weren't Hydra. He knew he wouldn't be seeing home for a while, and just hoped to God that Nate and their baby could be kept safe.

"The Secretary wants to speak to you." One of his STRIKE teammates told him.

"Now?" Steve questioned as he watched Natasha blankly stare at the wall.

"Now." He confirmed making Steve nod.

He did pause at the open vending machine to hide the USB behind some bubble-gum. He didn't dare take it with him into S.H.I.E.L.D.

He was unaware of the blank green eyes that watched him before something behind them clicked.

Black Widow had one last mission from Nick Fury it seemed.

* * *

His mission was the Black Widow and Captain America, he was to kill them. But before that, Pierce wanted his presences when he paid a visit to the Captain's wife.

The loyal Hydra agents hardly blinked as he followed Pierce into the small and partly trashed apartment. He blinked once in bemusement at the sight of a sparking Yorkshire terrier that was laying with a hole ripped through its side, showing the robotic innards.

"Your men killed my dog." A slightly choked voice spoke out blankly and brought his attention to the petite woman sitting on the armchair that was surprisingly intact.

Something deep in his gut twisted and a half-forgotten voice in the back of his head screamed at the sight of her.

She was pregnant. She had wrapped her arms, covered in a hoodie that must have belonged to her husband, protectively around her rounded stomach. There was fear deep in her dark eyes as she watched Pierce and himself walk closer to her.

He had never killed a pregnant woman before. He didn't want to kill any pregnant woman.

"Your robot is fiercely protective of you." Pierce said to the woman, the wife of the man he had ordered to be killed. "I'm sorry that we had to do that in front of you. I know your emotions can't be good for the baby right now, Mrs Rogers."

"Why do you care?" She asked as she looked at Pierce. "Isn't Hydra going to kill me and my baby anyway?"

Something flashed in Pierces eyes before he smiled, looking very pleased, at Mrs Rogers.

"How long have you known?" He asked her.

"Since I joined. I make it a point to find out everything about the division that I work for." She admitted.

"I want both you and your baby alive." Pierce told her honestly making her look at him in confusion. "Don't you realise how special your baby will be? The child of the first ever completely successful super soldier and a genius—though we hope its genius runs more along the lines of its grandfather's and uncle's than its mother's."

Horror painted its way across her pale face as she stared at Pierce with horrified dark eyes.

"You want to use my baby as a weapon for Hydra?" She breathed out as silent tears gathered in her eyes before sliding their way down her pale cheeks.

_You will be Hydra's new fist!_ A voice in the back of his head declared when he heard the woman's horrified words. He almost shook his head as if to shake away the voice, but stopped himself in time.

"They will be a symbol of peace." Pierce informed her.

"Will you kill me after I give birth then?" Mrs Rogers asked in a morbidly curious tone.

"No." Pierce smiled at her. "The bond between a mother and child is very strong, it would be cruel to break it so soon after the child's birth. And I find it quite remarkable how far some children would be willing to go as long as their mother is safe from harm."

She would the tool to keep her child in line, to keep her child following Hydra's lead, and there was nothing she could do about it.

And she knew it. It was clear in how she closed her dark eyes while more tears slipped down her face.

"Let's go get you comfortable, shall we?" Pierce asked almost pleasantly.

Automatically, he stepped forward, and away from Pierce, to offer his hand to the woman. She didn't even blink as she slid her slender hand in his metal one and let him gently pull her to her feet.

"Is Steve dead?" She asked Pierce before he could led her away and out of her trashed apartment.

"Not yet."

_Steve Rogers. _

Why did that name spark something in both his mind and chest? He dismissed it as unimportant, it was most likely an effect for being out of the ice for so long. He hadn't been allowed this much freedom in years.

He didn't realise he was still holding the woman's hand as he led her out, Pierce did though and frowned.

_Some of the old Sergeant was bleeding through_, Pierce thought to himself._ Hopefully it'll only be his kindness to pregnant women. We can't afford to waste any time mind-wiping him with the Captain and Spider on the loose, and with the wife in Hydra's grip._

_I'll let him guard her when he isn't out hunting down the Captain and the Spider. To show that Hydra was kind to their loyal agents._

* * *

There was something familiar in the shape of the soldier with the metal arm's eyes—it was like she had drawn them before but she was too stressed to remember when or who they belonged too.

If only she could see more of his face.

The room Hydra had set up for her in the Triskelion was simple and plain, but comfortable. She had headed straight for the bed when she spotted it before she turned her attention to the silent man watching her with blue-green eyes from his place next to the closed, and most likely locked, door.

"Can I at least see all the face of my guard?" She asked him hopefully.

There was a beat of silence when Nate was sure he had ignored her before his hands reached up and removed the half-facial black mask.

Something in her froze at the sight of Bucky Barnes blankly staring at her—she had drawn his face so many times for that sketchbook of Steve's that she could draw him half-asleep, and she would never forget the face of her husband's best friend.

Inwardly she cursed bloody blue murder at Hydra while outwardly she had a strained but pleased smile on her face.

"Do you mind if I ramble? I don't like the silence?" She asked, waiting for him to shake his head before she began talking. "I'm thinking of calling the baby James if it's a boy, after Steve's best friend Bucky."

Hopefully she would be able to spark his memories—because that was the only reason Nate could think of Bucky working with Hydra and willingly go on a mission to kill Steve—before he caught up with Steve.

"Steve told me loads of stories about him." She smiled before she began to ramble about all the memories of Bucky that Steve had shared with her.

_Please God, please let this work_. She prayed inwardly to a god she didn't believe in but Steve still did. She had gotten desperate and she need a miracle—Steve couldn't and wouldn't kill his best friend, and at the moment Bucky would ruthlessly kill Steve because it was his mission.

She had to help Steve in any way she could.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm basing this chapter on what I remember from watching the Winter Soldier, and I'm sorry if I've disappointed people with how I've sped through the events of Winter Soldier, but I honestly don't know how to drag this out.**

* * *

"_**There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." – Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.**_

* * *

Something in Steve broke when he caught the news on Sam's TV. His apartment was on the news, his trashed apartment. Where was Nate?

"There is no sign of Natasha Rogers." The news reporter spoke. "Whoever took the expecting mother disabled her robot from coming to her aid."

Seeing Howie's broken body being carried out of the apartment torn at him.

They killed Howie.

"We have no idea where Captain Steven Rogers is, or if he's going after those who took his wife."

Damn right he was going after them. They had taken his pregnant wife.

"Steve?" Natasha placed a hand on his shoulder, green eyes meeting his blue. "We'll get Nate back."

* * *

"Bucky?" His target asked in a bewildered tone as all the fight seemed to bleed out of his frame.

Betrayal, grief and shock was clear in the blues eyes that stared and pierced at him.

"Who the hell is Bucky?" He automatically responded though he already knew.

The Captain's wife—'Please call me Nate.'—had rambled on about Bucky Barnes, her husband's long lost best friend. Was this why?

Concern replaced the betrayal and Rogers stepped closer to him—reaching out like he was going to touch him—before something slammed into his side and sent him flying.

_He called me Bucky. He knew me. She knew me. Who am I?_ Those thoughts echoed in his mind as he rode back to the Triskelion to get his arm fixed.

Fractured memories spun in his mind, the man's face—Steve Rogers—was in most of them.

Part of him wanted to lash out at the doctors and scientists as they repaired his metal arm, but he realised they would wipe his mind if he acted out of character and wouldn't let him see Nate Rogers.

He had to see her.

_Who am I?_

* * *

Her cell, dressed prettily like a normal room, was small and plain. White walls, white floors, white ceiling, white covers on her bed and metal furniture.

She was sat on the bed when he arrived to her room, leaning against the headboard with her head tilted back and eyes closed as she rubbed her stomach, a pained grimace crossing her face every now and again.

She glanced over when she heard him shut the door and gave him a pained smile.

"Are you okay?" The question slipped easily from his lips as he moved closer, left hand gripping the sketchbook and pencil tightly.

"Yes." She lied before glancing at the sketchbook. "What's that for?"

He held it out for her and her hands automatically reached to take it, grimace briefly crossing her face, before she placed one hand back on her stomach.

"Draw me Bucky Barnes." He ordered.

Nate stared at him steadily, left hand absently rubbing her stomach as she dropped the sketchbook beside her on the bed.

"Are you sure?" She asked, and he could almost hear the whole question and the others that followed.

_Are you sure you want to know? Are you sure you can handle it? Knowing that Hydra had been lying to you? Are you sure you want to know who you really are?_

"Yes." He said simply.

"Help me to the desk then." Nate ordered him, right hand grapping the sketchbook. "I can't draw on my lap anymore."

He obeyed her and helped her to the small desk.

He stood behind her seated form and watched her flip open the book before she placed the pencil to paper—left hand still rubbing her stomach which nagged at something in his mind—before she began to draw.

There was no hesitation in her strokes, she told him she had drawn Bucky's face so many times in a gift to Steve that she would never forget his face or how to draw it.

* * *

Nate bit her lip in pain though kept her right hand steady as she drew out the face.

The pain in her stomach and lower back was annoying her greatly. She had a horrible feeling that she knew the cause behind the pain, but she ignored it.

Steve was coming. She was not going into labour before he got there and saved her damn it.

She was strangely at ease with the brain-washed Sergeant behind her—Steve's stories had made her trust Bucky even though he wasn't himself fully at the moment.

But he was coming back to himself, he was remembering, and that made her feel safer.

* * *

The drawing of Bucky Barnes had shorter hair and warmer eyes. Those were the only differences, it was like looking at the mirror.

She was staring at him with honest pained dark eyes, her breathing slightly deeper.

Labour pains. His mind absently said, but he was too focused at staring at the drawing of his face.

"He's never stopped loving you." Nate told him, grimace crossing her face again. "He blamed himself for your supposed death for so long. We celebrated your birthday."

"March 10th." He said, realising that he knew his birthday. "My birthday is March 10th."

Nate smiled at him briefly before cautiously looking at him.

"Are you going to kill Steve, Bucky?" She asked him.

And wasn't that the most important question?

* * *

"The price of freedom is high, and it's a price I'm willing to pay! And if I'm the only one, so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not." Steve's firm and passionate voice drifted throughout the Triskelion and Nate could have sobbed in relief.

He was okay, he was about the save the world and do something horribly heroic, and he was alive.

She gave a breathless laugh.

"About time you got here, Captain." She muttered to herself.

The sound of shots flying made her tense, snapping out of her relief, and stare at her door, they were heading her way.

The door was smashed open and there stood Bucky with a gun gripped in one hand, his face blank as he stared at her.

"Mrs Rogers." He began very formally. "I don't think Steve would forgive me if I let you have his child in the middle of a warzone."

"Are you getting me out of here then Sergeant?" She questioned, almost giddy with relief that was tempered with pain.

"Yes ma'am." He helped her up, wrapping his arm firmly around her and began to slowly lead her out.

Leaving the Triskelion was surprisingly easy. Hydra agents didn't want to fire at Bucky as they knew what he could do while loyal S.H.I.E.L.D agents didn't want to accidently hit Nate.

Still the stress of walking through a warzone made her pains come faster and made her cry out, Bucky was half-carrying her with his gun held steady to one of the dark cars that S.H.I.E.L.D/Hydra owned.

"Steve, better survive this." Nate gritted out as Bucky helped get her settled and strapped into the back of the car. "I'm going to kill him for doing this to me."

* * *

Sam had to hold Steve back as they watched the three helicarriers crash into the Triskelion—Nate was in there!

"Steve! Stop! You can't do anything!" Sam near shouted as he gripped tightly to the super-soldier.

"Nate!"

The sound of a car pulling up behind them made both of them tense and turn. It was one of S.H.I.E.L.D's dark cars and being drove by Bucky.

Before Steve could attack the car that his old friend was in, in grief and rage, the back window began to roll down.

There was a pale, sweaty and in pain, but alive, Nate leaning out of the window slightly.

"I'm going to kill you." She swore as she glared at Steve. "Your baby is trying to kill me!"

And Steve choked out half-sobbed laugh in relief as he made his way to her.

"Our baby." Steve corrected with deep affection as he opened the door of the car, hardly registering the fact that Bucky was watching him from the driver's seat.

"It's trying to kill me so it's yours!" Nate near screamed at him as he carefully got in the car, Sam sliding into the passenger seat with a wary look to Bucky. "You're always trying to kill me with stress these days!"

Steve just pressed a kiss to her dark hair as he held her close.

"Hospital?" Bucky spoke up and drawing Steve's attention to him.

There was still some distance in Bucky's gaze as he met Steve's eyes, but it was clearly his friend. His friend was back.

"Yes Bucky." Steve said as Nate cursed at Steve, promising to kill him or get Tony to kill him, or Tasha to kill him, or Hulk to kill him and such.

And Steve honestly didn't care. She was alive and safe, and about to have their baby.

Nate could curse and scream at him all she wanted.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony stormed through the hospital that held his sister like he owned the place, the scowl on his face kept the nurses from attempting to stop him.

Pepper was hurrying beside him, her heels hitting the floor perhaps a bit too hardly, and she was speaking hurriedly into her headset.

Clint and Bruce were more casual and calm as they followed after the fierce and angry couple, Bruce apologising softly to the startled nurses that had pressed themselves against the walls so they would be out of Tony Stark's range.

Thor and Jane were heading from London as quickly as they could—using Thor's hammer airline.

"Where is my sister?" Tony demanded in such a way that the nurse at the desk squeaked and ducked.

Clint did his best to keep the smirk off his face—Tony could be damn scary when it came to his sister.

"Tony." Pepper sighed, stretching one arm out to keep the billionaire back, before smiling at the startled nurse. "We're family of Nate Rogers and we would like to have her room number."

"She's not out of the delivery room yet." The calm yet tired voice of Natasha captured their attention and their heads snapped towards the redhead.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Clint almost gaped at the blue skirt suit that he knew Tasha must have hated.

"Clothes." Natasha deadpanned.

"That's nothing like—"Clint was cut off by Tony.

"Where is he?"

"Who?" Natasha blinked almost innocently.

"The bastard who knocked up my sister or the bastard that kidnapped my sister, I'm not too picky." Tony barred his teeth at the redhead.

"Tony, please don't." Pepper sighed as she rested a hand on his shoulder—she knew he was ignoring her but she had to try to make him see reason.

"Follow me." Natasha spun on her heel and walked down the corridoor that she had been standing in.

* * *

"ROGERS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Bucky's eyebrow raised at the short brunette man strode furiously towards where Steve stood—he had been kicked out when Nate spent more of her time shouting and screaming threats to Steve than listening to the doctors—three men, a woman and Natasha following him.

The muscular blond actually took a step back, he was halted by the wall behind him, and stared with wide eyes at the furious man.

"I'll keep her safe! Nothing will happen! It's only Washington Tony!" He mocked as he poked Steve hard in the chest. "I leave her alone with you and you get her pregnant and kidnapped!"

"I think she helped with the pregnant part." Another man spoke up with a smirk, his hair a lighter brunette.

He was smacked by the two redheads for that comment.

"Shut up Clint." The last man spoke up as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are not helping."

"I'm not trying to." Clint said before he took a seat next to Sam, introducing himself easily.

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" The sudden loud, pained and furious scream of Nate echoed to them.

Tony smiled, looking very pleased, and stepped back.

"That's my sister." He declared to them proudly. "I raised her myself."

The last man sighed before he took a seat next to Bucky.

"I'm Bruce."

"Bucky."

There was a beat of silence between them.

"Is it always like this?" Bucky asked as he nodded to the craziness that was Steve's new friends—Tony had decided to attempt to strangle Steve, he was being stopped by the two redheads—Natasha and Pepper—who was holding him back while Steve kept his hands up to defend himself.

"Pretty much." Bruce informed him wearily.

"Should we stop them?" Bucky asked.

"Nah." Bruce shook his head. "Tony will tire himself out soon enough."

"You knocked up my sister!" Tony screeched.

"We're married!" Steve tried to defend himself.

"You know that they were practicing long before they got married." Clint called out.

"Clint!" Pepper, Natasha, and Steve shouted. "Shut up!"

"Like he's really forgot all the lovely bruises that Steve placed on Nate's neck." Clint snorted as Steve flushed and Tony renewed his attempt at strangling.

Bucky smirked. He could get used to them as he got used to the memories in his head. They seemed like the type of people who wouldn't let him brood over things.

Everyone froze when the sudden shrill cry of a baby was heard from behind the doors.

"We made it just in time then." Thor boomed holding a bunch of balloons as Jane ran her fingers through her hair to attempt to fix it while her arms kept hold of a small brown teddy.

"Where did you get the balloons?" Bruce asked as Tony asked "Why do you have balloons?"

"Jane said it was a tradition to get balloons and other gifts for the new mother and child." Thor said bemusedly as he saw the other's empty hands.

"Should we have brought gifts?" Tony asked Pepper who sighed.

"Probably."

"Oh."

"We have time, they have to move her from the delivery room to her own room." Natasha pointed out.

They looked at each other for a moment before rushing towards the gift shop.

* * *

"Captain Rogers?" A nurse timidly peered out of the doors to the ward Nate was in towards where they were standing clutching flowers, teddy-bears and balloons. "You can see her now."

It didn't matter if she had only meant Steve, the whole group filed in after her and followed her to where Nate was resting.

Nate had been placed into a private room, and she was sat up in bed cradling her new born wrapped in blankets.

Steve immediately moved to Nate's side, sitting on the side of the bed and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I hate you." She told him as he peered down at the small sleeping face of their child.

"No you don't." Steve pressed a kiss to her head. "You love me and I love you."

"God you're sickening." Tony sighed before he moved to Nate's other side. "What is it?"

"Tony." Pepper chided in a sigh as she moved to his side. "That's your niece or nephew."

"And?" Tony's eyebrow raised as the others crowded around in the small room and around the bed—all still holding their gifts for her.

Nate laughed softly, smiling as she looked around her before her eyes paused on where Bucky was standing by the door.

"Everyone, meet James Anthony Rogers."


	6. Chapter 6

"Tony." Pepper sighed as she watched Tony fiddle with the pieces that made Jamie's—as Tony declared his nephew had to be called—cot. "Just ask Jarvis to look up the instructions."

Thor was staring sheepishly down at the ripped instructions in his large hands—he had wanted to help Tony put together the cot but had accidently ripped the delicate paper.

"Pepper, baby." Tony began in a condescending tone. "I'm a genius, I built my first Ironman suit in a cave as well as my first reactor. I think I can put a cot together easily enough."

Pepper sent an anxious look to where Bruce was sitting on the couch, calmly watching Tony stare at the pieces of wood in—what Tony would never admit—was confusion, and in return he gave her a look that plainly said he wasn't getting involved.

"Pepper, just let him try." Jane said as she picked up one of the boxes filled with teddy bears and such.

"Yeah, let him be a moron while we set up Jamie's room." Darcy said frankly as she grabbed one of the boxes filled with tiny clothes—coloured in red, white and blue because Clint had a horrible sense of humour and had been the one to pick out the clothes.

"Darcy." Jane sighed, she didn't know why she tried anymore.

"I'm not being a moron!" Tony shouted in irritation. "I'm a damn genius! I can put together a simple cot!"

"Sure you can." Darcy snorted before she left the room.

"Thor," Jane smiled as he looked up, "why don't you help us with Jamie's nursery?"

"Certainly." Thor nodded eagerly as he picked up some of the boxes filled with more of Jamie's things—all brand new.

Pepper heaved a sigh before going to join the other women and Thor in Jamie's nursery that was next to Steve and Nate's room. Better she spent her time progressively than watch Tony be stubborn, she wasn't as amused by his pig-headedness as Bruce was.

* * *

Clint easily shot blunt arrows to the ceiling of the nursery that left glow-in-the-dark stars when the arrow fell back down to his waiting hand.

"You're really using arrows to place the stars on the ceiling?" Sam asked as he fiddled with the dark blue curtains with mini-Captain America's shields so they hung straight.

"Yep." Clint said before sending a glance at the dark-skinned man. "I don't know why you're here."

"Steve's my friend." He then sent a smirk towards Clint. "I've also been recruited as an Avenger."

"Does Tony know yet?" Clint snorted as he grabbed another arrow.

"Nope."

"It's not like he's going to run out of rooms." Darcy spoke as she strode towards the dresser and began to stack the piles of clothes in neatly.

"Why is there so much Captain America themed things?" Darcy asked holding a Captain America onesie as Thor came in with Jane.

"Because there's not a lot of Valkyrie themed things." Clint answered simply as Jane directed Thor into getting the rocking chair from the living room.

"Because the guys have no imagination." Pepper responded simply at the same time as she dodged Thor. "And for some reason, we decided it was a good idea to let them buy the things for Jamie."

"Why did we do that again?" Darcy inquired as she moved to help Jane put the teddy bears and other toys on the shelves—there was a collection of Avenger-styled bears that Darcy placed next to each other on the middle shelf.

"Because they wouldn't stop whining." Pepper bluntly stated making Clint shout an offended 'Oi!' as Thor placed the rocking chair in the middle of the room before Pepper laid pillows and a blanket on it.

"We chose perfectly fine things." Clint huffed.

"You're gonna give him a Captain America complex." Darcy pointed out as she eyed the Captain America blanket that Pepper had settled on the rocking chair.

* * *

"Sir, Ms Nattie and Captain Rogers have entered the Tower, perhaps it would be the prudent thing to ask for the instructions?" Jarvis asked as Tony looked up with a screw-driver in his mouth.

"Whaaa…?" Tony asked muffled before he removed the screw-driver. "They're here?"

"Yes sir." Jarvis said in a long suffering tone. "With Ms Romanoff and Sergeant Barnes."

Tony looked at the mess that was meant to be Jamie's cot and grimaced.

"Perhaps, you should stall them—"

"Why should we be stalled, Tony?" Nate asked making him freeze before he turned slowly to face his petite sister.

Steve had an arm wrapped around her slender shoulder while he held the car-seat that held Jamie in the other hand. Bucky and Natasha were making their way to the couch to join Bruce—most likely so they could have a good seat for the upcoming show.

"Well, you see—"But Nate had seen the mess that should have been Jamie's cot.

"Is that Jamie's cot?" Nate asked in an even tone.

"Maybe." Tony answered weakly making Nate sigh.

"I'll fix it." Steve promised as he handed the slumbering baby to Nate, who pressed a kiss to his jaw before joining the others on the couch, placing Jamie's car-seat between her and Bruce—Bruce peering down at the sleeping face of Jamie with a fond smile.

"You'll fix it?" Tony scoffed as he looked at the taller man as the others came from Jamie's nursery after being informed by Jarvis that the Rogers family had arrived—Jane, Pepper and Darcy peered over Bruce and Nate's shoulders at Jamie.

("Look at him." Jane cooed softly. "He's so adorable."

"Look at his hair," Darcy reached out softly to stroke the feather-soft dirty blonde hair on his little head. "It's the perfect mixture of both of yours and Steve's hair colour."

"Whose eyes does he have?" Pepper queried as she stroked his cubby little fist with one finger.

"They are still blue at the moment." Nate told her. "We're not sure if they'll change or not yet."

"He'll be as strong as his father and as fierce as his mother when he's older!" Thor decreed.

"Shhh!" Everyone hissed at the rebuked god.

"If you wake him up, I swear I will castrate you." Nate vowed in a lethal tone that made all the males cross their legs defensively.)

"Yes." Steve answered easily as he bent to look at what Tony had already done.

"You believe that you can put it together when I, a genius, couldn't?" Tony demanded.

"Sure." Steve said as the other men watched them in amusement. "It can't be that hard."

Tony snorted before flopping back to the couch.

"Be my guest." He gestured to the mess of the cot.

Half-hour later, he was gaping at the completed cot that Thor was helping Steve move into the nursery.

"And you call yourself a genius." Darcy shook her head at Tony in disgust. "Can't even put together a simple cot."


	7. Chapter 7

Tony didn't know if he was surprised or not to see Nate curled up on the couch in the living room in the dark—the city lights that shone through the window was only thing casting light and let him see—with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

He could hear Nanny whirling around the kitchen—she was so excited about having a baby in the house again that she kept finding more things to do—and moved to join his little sister.

She was staring at the mug, her eyes far away and her face stricken with grief.

"They killed Howie." The raw pain in her voice made him reach out for her and pull her close. "They killed him right in front of me and didn't care because he was just a robot."

Tony closed his eyes as he remembered the news report—the feeling of his heart in his throat as he stared uncomprehending at the images of Nate and Steve's trashed apartment, the twisting in his chest as he caught sight of their scattered sketchbooks, the pain that knocked the breath out him as he saw Howie's broken pintsized body and the numbness that took over when he realised his sister had been kidnapped and Steve was nowhere to be found.

To Tony and Nate, Howie had never really been a robot. Even when he obviously looked like one, he was their dog—he was theirs, their dog, their pet, part of their family—and was honestly the best gift Tony ever gave Nate.

And Hydra had killed him in front of Nate, who had him since she was four and never went anywhere without him, and they hadn't cared about the pain they caused because they only saw a robot.

"I'll make them pay, honey." Tony promised as he pressed a kiss to her dark hair.

"We'll make them pay." She corrected as she cuddled closer to him, hands holding her mug closer to her and steady. "He was my dog."

And Tony knew what he was going to give her for her birthday in two weeks.

* * *

Nate had been four when Tony gave her Howie, he had built her a pet instead of buying one so she would never feel the pain of him dying. Because Howie was a robot and thus couldn't ever really die, and that was something that Nate had obviously forgot, Tony thought as he laid out Howie's body—Fury had sent it to him before disappearing somewhere in Europe though not before he basically ordered him to hire Maria Hill.

"What's the damage, Jarvis?" Tony asked as he began to remove the fur from Howie's frame.

"Power-core and motor-functions have been completely destroyed." Jarvis began to list. "Basic structure has been damaged, left side must be completely replaced. Memory banks, coding and basic sense functions seem to be fine, Sir."

Okay, it wasn't that bad. Tony could fix this, and he would so Nate would smile truly again with true happiness in her dark eyes. No shadow of grief would remain in her eyes, Tony wouldn't allow it.

* * *

Jamie looked so tiny when Steve cradled him, Nate thought as she watched her husband gently shush and rock their fussing son from the doorway.

Nate had known from the moment she found out that she was pregnant that Steve would make a good father. The look on his face when she told him—the look of total happiness, reverence and love as he stared at her flat stomach while gently touching her—had confirmed that thought in her mind.

Nate hoped she could be as good a mother as Steve naturally was a father.

The only mother that Nate had really known growing up was Nanny. A robot was basically her mother, and though Nate loved her dearly but Nanny wasn't human. Tony had programmed her to take care of Nate, it was in her coding to be a good mother to Nate and she had been a great mother to Nate when she was growing up.

But she had never been able to teach Nate what happened when you made mistakes raising your child. She had never been able to teach Nate how to learn from her mistakes with a child as Nanny used every bit of advice that people had posted on the internet or made into books to avoid certain pitfalls.

Nate didn't even know what pitfalls she should watch out for.

"You know what, Jamie?" Steve asked softly as he turned to look at Nate. "I think Mama should join us instead of just watching, don't you?"

Nate smiled and padded her way softly towards her boys, pressing a kiss on Jamie's head before tossing her long hair over her shoulder and resting her head on Steve's arm. Steve carefully moved so he was cradling Jamie with one arm—Nate automatically reaching out to give the baby more support—and wrapped his newly free arm around Nate.

Together the little family swayed as Jamie drifted back to sleep, safe in his parent's arms.

* * *

Bucky blinked at the sight of Darcy slumped at the kitchen table, dark hair tangled around her face, and a mug of cooling coffee in front of her.

"Rough night?" He questioned as he joined her at the large dining table—ordered and build especially for the Avengers and their growing family.

"I am never becoming a mother." Darcy groaned. "I'm also moving rooms."

Bucky smirked as Nanny placed a mug in front of him—he was still getting used to the motherly robot.

"You're in the room on the other side of the Nursery then?" He questioned before he sipped at his hot coffee.

"Yes." Darcy groaned out, laying her head on the cool glass of the table. "He's got a set of lungs on him, I think he's inherited Tony's loud-mouth."

"Don't let him hear you say that." Nate said as she entered with Jamie clasped to her so his head was resting on her shoulder. "He'll be torn between being proud and whining that he didn't have a loud-mouth."

"Your son is going to be a terror." Darcy told Nate bluntly.

Nate just snorted in agreement as Nanny handed her a glass of orange juice.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask." Darcy spoke up, her gaze focused on the necklace around Nate's neck. "What's up with the new necklace?"

Nate blinked once before she cursed, set her glass down on the table—Nanny placing it on a coaster with a tsk—before handing Bucky Jamie and leaving the kitchen as she cursed.

Bucky was left holding Jamie awkwardly with Darcy smirking at him.

"Here." Darcy said as she carefully helped Bucky hold Jamie more firmly. "There you go! You're a natural Uncle Bucky."

Before Bucky could say anything to Darcy's teasing, he was cut off by a furious shout;

"FURY! YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Is it always like this?" He questioned Darcy as he attempted to sooth a now awake and crying baby.

"Pretty much." Darcy snorted before drinking some of her coffee, reaching out to play with Jamie's foot with one hand in her attempt to distract him from his mother's shouting. "Wonder what eye-patch has done to piss Nate off so much."

"NATE! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" Clint bellowed from his room.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! COULSON'S ALIVE!" Nate screamed back.

There was a beat of complete and tense silence—only broken by Jamie's soft cries—before chaos.

"WHAT!"

"HE'S ALIVE!"

"FURY! YOU BASTARD!"

"WHERE IS HE?!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

"WHERE IS THE SON OF COUL?!"


	8. Chapter 8

Team Coulson had just been relaxing and trying to figure out what to do in the Bus when a rather even female voice—the tone still told how unhappy this woman was—cut through them.

"You're looking good for a man that supposedly died two years ago."

Skye would totally admit to gaping at the sight of petite long haired frame of Nate Rogers who was glaring at Coulson—she glanced at the others of her team to take in their reactions.

May seemed to be completely unconcerned over the appearance of Nate Rogers—Valkyrie! Wife of Captain America!—being in front of them and was leaned back in her seat comfortably.

Fitz-Simmons at least seemed surprised by her appearance and were currently whispering together, and Coulson—

"Howard." Coulson acknowledged as he turned to look at the petite woman.

"It's Rogers now." She lifted her left hand from them to see the two white-gold rings—one with a small diamond—on her ring-finger. "I would have thought you would have kept up-to-date with your friends." She gave an odd smile then, her eyes were angry though the rest of her face was calm. "Then again, friends don't let their other friends believe they are dead for two years."

"It was classified." Coulson spoke evenly.

"Bullshit." She gritted out before she lashed out.

They exchanged some hits, blocking them before they could fully connect, before Coulson sent her to the ground with one blow to her chest.

He frowned as he looked down at her.

"You're out of shape." Coulson commented.

"She's has a good reason." A male voice spoke up that made attention turn to Steve Rogers—Captain fuckin' America—heading their way while holding the handle of a car-seat with a sleeping baby—dressed in a Captain America onesie—with one hand. "Coulson."

"Captain Rogers." Coulson said in a way that made Skye glance at him and May to smirk—hero worship. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to know you're alive." Steve quickly shook Coulson's hand before hulling up his wife.

"You got a new team." There was something strange in Nate's tone as she stared at Team Coulson. "Two level fives, a shiny new level one, and the Cavalry (Skye shot a glance at May at the same time as Fitz-Simmons though she didn't react to the hated nickname). Must be a cake-walk compared to the Avengers, huh?"

"Something like that." Coulson agreed before glancing at Nate's feet. "Where's the thing?"

"Hydra took him out." Steve told him, wrapping around Nate's shoulders.

"I'm sorry." Coulson told her honestly. "I know how much he meant to you."

"He was a good dog." Nate agreed sadly.

"I don't think you two came here just to see Coulson." May spoke up. "Why are you really here, Agent Rogers?"

May was obviously only talking to Nate who stared back at her easily. Steve frowned at May whole Coulson simply watched Nate patiently.

"We're not really agents anymore, are we?" She asked with a cool smile before taking a seat with Steve—the car seat was settled between them, the baby still asleep—as Coulson retook his seat. "S.H.I.E.L.D is officially dead and labelled as a terrorist organization with all its known agents being hunted down by other governments because of its shady dealings in the place as well as the whole Hydra thing.

Fury's dead, Hill is working for Pepper, Tasha and Clint have only been left alone because of they are Avengers, they are needed and they have my brother and myself willing to protect them. All agents are either running, searching for Hydra, hiding or are Hydra agents."

"Get to the point please, Nate." Coulson said.

Nate turned her attention to her slumbering child, tucking his blanket closer around him.

"Howard Stark helped create S.H.I.E.L.D. He created it for a good reason, to defend the world, to keep the peace. It was just a foolish mistake that let the poison of Hydra to grow under his nose and later Fury's.

Ever since New York, the world has been different as they have become aware of what's really out there. But now with the DC Incident? The public has realised just how dark a place the world could be, has realised all the threats that they never knew about, has realised that war is happening and that one of the divisions that were meant to protect them had been compromised with one of the worst Nazi-sub-groups that even the Nazis denounced and broke away from.

The world needs protecting now more than ever."

"And what are you suggesting?" Coulson asked though a smile tugged at his lips briefly.

Nate leaned back with a smirk—looking startling like her brother and father.

"A Stark created S.H.I.E.L.D to protect the people, a Stark and a Rogers wants to create something else and something better to protect the people." She looked at all of them. "I'm here to recruit you, Steve only came to ask you to come back with us."

"And what are we going to be called?" May asked.

"We already have a name, don't with Coulson?" Nate asked.

"Avengers." Coulson shook his head before looking at Steve. "Congratulations on the birth of your son, Captain Rogers."

"Hey, I was the one who had to go through labour, where's my congratulations?" Nate objected.

"I'm agreeing to join your crazy idea." Coulson said easily. "That's the only congratulations you need."

"Jerk." Nate muttered though she was smiling.

* * *

"No, no, no, no, no. NO!" Tony denied as he looked at the four—FOUR—extra people with Nate, Steve, Jamie and Coulson—all with bags and boxes filled with their stuff. "You were meant to bring back Coulson, and only Coulson."

"They're the first recruits." Nate said as she let Pepper take Jamie—the baby cooing as he tugged on his aunt's ginger hair.

"First recruits?" Tony asked in confusion as the others who lived in the tower and was watching them in amusement asked the same.

"We talked about before we left, remember Tony?" Nate asked as she flopped next to Natasha—Steve as always followed her like a puppy and pulled her legs onto his lap after he settled next to her.

"I was drunk!" Tony protested as he couldn't really remember what he had talked to Nate about.

Seven deadpanned looks—Nate, Natasha, Clint, and Sam (why was he even still here? Tony wondered), Bucky, Darcy and Coulson—three disapproving looks—Steve, Jane and Bruce—three shocked looks—from three of the new group of people moving into his tower (he was going to have to open a whole new level to house them)—one disbelieving look—Thor—and one resigned look-Pepper—was levelled at him at him at once.

"We're starting our own division." Nate said as she watched Pepper coo at Jamie. "Avengers, remember? You were the one who suggested the name since we have the public on our side and because we're the ones creating it."

"Oh yeah." Tony remembered, he pouted at the loud sighs that were released at his answer.

* * *

Fitz-Simmons were giving their own lab and went wild, Skye was given a job in Stark Industries when Pepper realised how skilled she was with computers and May joined Happy with the security.

Pepper had put her foot down on Tony and Nate making a new division—she had no doubt that they would be able to create one, and a better one at that, but she really didn't want to know what they could do with all the information that came with making such a division at their fingertips—and told them simply that the Avengers were just going to be a simple superhero team—her face had twisted as she spoke because she never thought she would call a superhero team simple.

Coulson was back to being the handler of the Avengers—which freed up the time Pepper had been spent baby-sitting the Avengers while Jane tried to control Darcy so she didn't add to the craziness that was the Avengers. Fitz-Simmons, Skye and May was given their own apartments near the Tower while Coulson actually lived in the Tower.

Howie came back from the dead—with just a discoloured patch of fur that showed where he had been hit—to Nate's tearful delight—and Coulson's secret horror as he still remembered the feel of Howie's teeth ripping into his leg—and was just the same as before though now he would watch Jamie curiously as the baby played helplessly with his toys.

Things were as normal as could be when living with the Avengers.

* * *

"When does he start being interesting?" Clint asked as he peered at Jamie, who was giggling and blowing spit-bubbles.

"Are you calling my son boring?" Steve asked offended as he paused in his tickling of his son.

"Well kind of." Clint shrugged under the blue-eyed glare. "All he does is sleep, eat, shit, cry, giggle and throw up. Doesn't he do anything else?"

"Not till he learns to crawl." Tony answered absently from where he was playing on one of his Stark-pads. "Then we'll be hunting for him daily if he takes after his mother."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked in interest as Steve looked at Tony.

"Nattie liked to hide after she learnt to crawl, it become harder to find her when she learnt to walk, and could wait for hours as she listened to Dum-E, Nanny and me looking for her." Tony explained as he noticed the interested faces of all his male roommates.

"No wonder she's so patient." Sam snorted before turning back to the TV.

"Na," Tony waved a dismissive hand, "she's had that serene patience since I first held her."

"Serene?" Bucky asked doubtfully remembering the rambling woman he had spent time with, the cursing and threating woman he drove to the hospital, and the screaming woman that could make Thor cower.

"Lady Nate is very fierce true." Thor spoke up thoughtfully, hearing the doubt in Bucky's voice while Tony just glared at the deadly assassin. "But she is serene when she holds her young son and is with Steven."

"You've all brought out the worst in her." Tony accused making them snort. "What?"

"We're just surprised that you can call us bad influences on your sister with a straight face." Coulson spoke up from where he had ignoring them all as he tried to clean up the mess that Natasha and Fury had made when they dumped everything in S.H.I.E.L.D data bases on the net.

(Couldn't they had done something else to expose Hydra that didn't involve making such a mess? Coulson despaired inwardly.)

"You!" Tony point an accusing finger at the calmly sitting ex-agent. "Are the worst!"

"How's that?" Coulson raised an eyebrow.

"Should we pull up the video of the day old Captain here" Clint tossed an arm around Steve's neck "was found and the call went out?"

"What video?" Steve asked as Tony glared at the slightly blushing ex-agent—he had not been pleased when he watched his sister getting a Taser to the leg.

"Is it a display of the Lady Nate's fierce nature?" Thor questioned.

"It doesn't matter." Coulson tried to dismiss the idea of the video.

"It sounds interesting though." Sam said before looking at Clint. "Am I right?"

"Yep." Clint smirked as Bucky even shifted in interest.

"I want to watch this video." Steve stated sternly as he picked up his son, eyeing Coulson and Clint in suspicion.

Coulson winced at the look on his childhood idol's face just before Jarvis started to play the video of _that_ day.

They were all silent a moment as they stared at the large TV screen.

"You shot her with a Taser?" Steve gaped in disbelief at the image of his younger-looking wife falling to the ground as she trembled from the shock from Coulson's Taser.

"She's very determined." Bucky commented in respect as he watched Nate drag her leg as she walked to Fury's office.

"You fought her to be the handler of Captain America?" Sam smirked—Coulson had fought the woman would be the wife of Captain America for the right to be his handler.

"Lady Nate is a skilled and fierce warrior." Thor looked like he sympathised with the pain that made Nate collapse on screen. "I have felt the pain of the Taser before, and I'm impressed with her ability to ignore such pain."

Coulson just groaned into his hands, it wasn't his finest moment and he had never wanted Steve to see it.


	9. Chapter 9

No one, apart from Nate, knew the whole mess that Steve had been when he woke up in 2012.

His entire world had changed in a single sleep, all his friends were either dead or old, and they had all grown up without him. People had changed greatly, they were no longer polite—politeness seemed like it was long gone—and didn't seem to have the apparent goodness he had grown up with.

They didn't care about wasting food, spending their money on useless things, and they were so strange. It was like he woke on an alien planet instead of in the future.

Steve fell quickly and hard for Nate because she did her best to help him get settled to the new world he found himself in. She had hunted down hotdogs like he would have eat in the 30s-40s, she had taken him to see all his old friends that were still alive—played music he remembered in the background as they talked—and had hunted down every grave of the people he used to know so he could say goodbye.

The first thing she had done was take him to Peggy so he didn't fully break his promise to her—and Steve could never say how grateful he was for that.

She had listened to all his rants—grief-stricken rants, angry rants, fearful rants—and woke him up from every nightmare—Steve would always remember her taking to wearing long sleeved tops because he would accidently leave bruises when she startled him awake and he didn't know who she was or where he was, the guilt would never leave him though she always shrugged them off.

She took him to every museum, every art gallery, that he gave the tiniest bit interest in. She had tracked down some of his old things—a family album filled with images of his parents and himself, pictures with Bucky and him something that could never be replaced, the worn baseball and glove that he had never been able to properly play with, things like that—and had probably spent a lot of money on them to return them.

She didn't push him to get used to the future, she did things to help him get used to the new world, and had forbidden Nanny from throwing out any food that Steve could make into soup or stew. She happily eat the simple meals that he made, not caring if they had the same thing for three days in a row.

She had joined the same gym as him, a gym that reminded him of home and must have felt very old-fashioned to her. She determinedly worked-out with him and joined him on every jog—despite the fact she lagged behind him and was always a panting mess at the end of them.

She bought him a record player and a bunch of records, listened to them with him and found DVD copies of old films he could remember.

She was patient with him, never got annoyed with it took him ages to learn certain things, and she was very kind.

They hadn't had the whirlwind passion of untold feelings that Peggy and he had—they had been in war after all. They had a softer love—one that would last the test of time—that grew in two short months without them really noticing, it most likely would have took them longer to get together if it hadn't been for the attack of the Helicarrier and the Battle of New York.

She had been patient with him in their relationship, let him chose the pace of their relationship, and didn't seem surprised that Steve had thrown himself into their relationship with everything he had. He had been cautious with his relationship—or lack of relationship—with Peggy, more reserved like many people of his time, and he lost her before he could ever really have her. He hadn't let himself make the same mistake with Nate.

They married in a year of being together, had a son the following year, had a strange and crazy mismatched family and were completely happy.

Though Steve still feared losing Nate, losing Jamie, losing Bucky again, and losing any of their family, he kept that fear hidden from everyone apart from Nate and Bucky who knew him too well.

He couldn't keep it hidden when the news interrupted the TV programme—How I met your mother, that Clint loved—and showed the blown up café that Nate often went to after spending some time outside with Jamie—like she had that day.

His whole world narrowed down the images of the fleeing terrified people, the smoke raising in the air, the rumble that kept people trapped in the café and the almost frantic movements of police and firemen.

He was moving before he completely registered the fact that Nate wasn't picking for Tony's call—taking the stairs in leaps because he couldn't wait for the elevator with Bucky following him.

There was a strange loud ringing in his ears, his heart raced hard in his chest, and his every breath came out a gasp like when he used to have asthma attacks.

Steve ran the whole way to the little café, despite the fact that he wasn't in his uniform everyone parted for the frantically running Captain America, who skidded to a stop outside of the police barrier.

The police didn't bother to stop him, or the others when they arrived, ducking under the barrier.

"Nate!"

* * *

It was a normal day, she had been waiting for the tray of coffees for everyone and the two huge bags of muffins when Howie growled.

She had just picked up Jamie and kept him close as she looked around for what had upset Howie.

There was a new customer had entered the small café, wearing a hoodie. She caught the slightest glimpse of wires around his neck and shouted 'BOMB!' before she crouched down, curling around Jamie with Howie helping to protect him.

There was a brief moment of complete panic before the deafening boom made her ears drums burst, Jamie screamed and wailed—his little face twisted in fear—as the crippling heat burnt her as part of the building collapsed on them—part of try partly trapping her.

She was able to see through her doubling-vision that Jamie was mostly unhurt, his face red as he screamed silently to Nate. Howie was the only thing that was stopping Nate crushing her son, but she couldn't move, couldn't feel her legs, couldn't hear, and she couldn't stay awake as blood soaked her.

The last thing she was aware of was tiny fingers gripping her top.


	10. Chapter 10

Thor, Bucky and Steve were the ones that had to move the rumble to get into the café, the others helped the traumatised and hurt people out.

It was Jamie's shrill cries that helped them find Nate—the image of her laying there would haunt Steve's nightmares for years to come.

Blood soaked half of her face, long dark hair dirty with rumble dust and blood, and there was horrible burns on her arms, some of burns must have been sticking her top to her torso, that seemed almost black in some places. Thick blood was trailing out of her ears, dripping down on Jamie's ruined onesie. Rumble pinning her legs.

Howie was the only thing that was raising her up so she wasn't crushing her screaming son underneath her.

Nate had always been petite, Steve knew. But she had never looked as tiny as she did at that moment.

Thor carefully removed the pieces of rumble as Bucky gently slid Jamie out from under his mother. The moment Nate's legs were free, Steve was lifting her up and cradling her in his arms.

He felt sick as her slick blood soaked his shirt and her arms fell limply. He had never seen her this hurt and he hoped he never would again.

Part of him didn't want to give her over to the ambulance but he handed her over, watching as they strapped her down and braced her neck before lifting her into the waiting ambulance.

* * *

Steve was numb in a worse way than he was earlier that year and saw trashed images of his apartment on the news.

He just sat numbly in the waiting room, elbows raising on his knees as he buried his blood soaked hands—Nate's blood—through his blond hair leaving red streaks.

_Nate used to have red in her hair to symbolise Tony_. He recalled.

Tony sat stoically next to him, his face blank as tears silently slid down his face. For once, he was completely still as he stared blankly forward.

Pepper gripped Tony's hand tightly, her nose raw and red and her eyes were puffy and red. She sat rigidly in her plastic seat, wiping at her eyes and nose with a screwed up tissue.

Darcy was cradling a freshly washed, changed and quiet Jamie as she sat next to Bucky, Jane was curled in Thor's lap on the other side, slim hands gripping his top tightly as she hid her tears in his broad chest.

Natasha, Clint, Sam and Coulson were perched on a row of benches—Coulson typing furiously on his phone.

Bruce was further down the hall as he talked to the doctors for a while before he walked back to the others.

"She's stable." Bruce's voice broke through the fog surrounding Steve's head. "She's fractured her spine, third degree burns along her arms and second degree burns on her torso. Her eardrums were perforated and she had to have surgery, but they are certain that it'll heal. She's has lost a lot of blood and is currently in a coma."

"Will she need blood transfers?" Pepper asked hoarsely.

"Yes." Bruce rubbed his eyes.

"Use my blood." Steve spoke up making them all look at him.

He remembered how Nate had once commented that S.H.I.E.L.D thought his blood had healing abilities because of the serum in his veins. He hadn't really thought about it as it hadn't meant much to him then, but now he could aid in her healing, Steve was willing to give as much blood as she needed.

"She's my sis—"

"My blood has healing abilities because of the serum." Steve cut Tony off firmly as he looked at Bruce. "Tell them they can use my blood."

Tony glared for a moment before nodding.

* * *

They flew in their old doctor from S.H.I.E.L.D that wasn't a Hydra agent before pumping Nate with Steve's blood.

The effect was almost immediate as bruises faded and shallow cuts began to close and heal.

Steve cradled her hand as he watched his blood take effect and heal his wife—the burns were slowly lessening and the doctor—Doctor Williams—had said that she may not even have scars.

Steve didn't care if she was scarred, she was his wife and as long as she lived than Steve didn't care what she looked like.

Tony sat on the other side of Nate's bed, his head was tilted back as he slept with Jamie sprawled over his chest with his arms holding his nephew firmly—he used to do that with Nate. He had only crashed after he was certain that Steve's blood was helping his sister.

Bucky stood just outside the door, blank faced as he stared down anyone that tried to enter that wasn't Doctor Williams or a member of their family.

The rest of the family had drifted off home reluctantly—Darcy had only stayed to keep Bucky company as he stood guard and help him stay awake with numerous cups of coffee.

She was curled up on a chair beside Bucky, a blanket tucked carefully around her.

Steve wondered when Bucky would realise that Darcy was interested in him, and he wondered if Bucky was interested in her too. Bucky had become a lot harder to read because of Hydra.

* * *

Pepper's face slowly drained of blood as she stared at Phil's grim face.

"S.H.I.E.L.D stopped bomb-attacks like this happening?" She questioned though she had heard him perfectly.

Phil just nodded.

"If I hadn't shut down the Avenger division idea, this many have not happened."

"You can't blame yourself Pepper."

"Nate could have died and we could have stopped it!"

"Pepper—"

"Make another SHIELD, use old agents that aren't Hydra. Hell, call Fury back. We can't let this happen again, please Phil."

"Of course."

"Thank you."

* * *

The doctors were amazed with how swiftly Nate's body healed, though her mind kept her locked in an unconscious state.

When her body finished healing—in a little over three weeks—Tony had made them release her into their care before taking her home to the Tower.

Steve felt better when she was placed in their bed at home—even though she was still hooked up to IVs.

He felt even better when he was able to hold her as they slept, he could almost imagine that she hadn't been hurt at all and was simply really tired from late-nights with Jamie.

The illusion would always break when he woke up and she didn't twitch.

Bruce tried to reassure everyone that it was perfectly normal for the mind to take a long time to realise the danger was gone after such trauma.

Thor told them stories about how some warriors needed a deep sleep to fully recover from a sudden and unexpected trauma, and how when they woke up, they were back to normal.

But Steve could remember falling asleep and not waking up till almost seventy years had passed and he didn't want Nate to go through that, didn't want her to miss Jamie growing up.

He was already growing so quickly, Steve hated the thought that she would miss his first steps, his first words because some idiot decided to blow-up a café.

Coulson was creating a new SHIELD that was going to be called the Avengers like Nate had said. Tony help by handing over his check book before holing himself up in his workshop—Steve was aware that Tony checked in on Nate every now and again but couldn't stay to watch her just lay there so didn't stay around too long.

It would be when Bucky dragged Steve to eat dinner with the rest of them, almost a month after Nate was brought home, that dark eyes would flutter open with sharp awareness and Jarvis would alert everyone that 'Miss Nattie's awake!"


	11. Chapter 11

Dark confused eyes blinked up at the familiar white ceiling.

_I really need to paint it_. Nate thought to herself in a daze as she stared at the horribly boring white ceiling.

Her mind felt slow and sluggish, and she waited for her memories to come forth and make sense.

Fear. Jamie. Blistering heat and heavy rumble. Jamie's red little face screwed up as he screamed silently. And then blackness.

She jolted up in bed, head spinning dangerously at the sudden movement, and familiar large hands gripped her shoulders to keep her sat up.

_Steve._

His blue eyes were wide and wet as he stared at her, his face pale and deep shadows under his eyes. But still, her husband was a welcoming sight.

"Nate." He croaked out before crushing her to his chest, his face burying into her dark hair.

"Steve."

There was something completely comforting to be in her husband's arms, she tried to put both arms around him but was stopped by a sharp tug on the back of her right hand.

She pulled away from Steve and frowned at the IV drip in her hand.

"You still know how to give me a fright, Nattie." Tony's voice pulled her attention to the door where everyone was crowded around and smiling at her—Pepper and Jane were in tears, and Darcy's eyes were blinking fast as she held Jamie up so he could see his mama.

Oh god. Her throat seemed to close tightly as she stared at her son. He had gotten so big, and she had missed it.

"Darcy." Steve's hands reached out and the young woman handed over his son, the toddlers blue gaze was fixed on his mama though.

"Mama." His little chubby hands reached for her and she took him from Steve, she held him close and cooed at him as she searched for a sign that she hadn't completely protected him.

"He was fine." Bruce reassured her as he moved to remove the IV from her hand, the doctor in him wasn't happy with that but he knew the Stark siblings hated needles—ironic since they both shot little chips into their arms to control their armour through their thoughts.

Steve had moved so he was sat next to Nate, and had pulled her into his side so she was leaning against him.

Nate had a feeling that he wouldn't let her out of his sight anytime soon. And she was okay with that.

* * *

Blue clashed with blue as Thor frowned at his newest and greatest foe, his chosen weapon held carefully in his hand so he didn't bend the soft metal in his hand in his frustration.

He was the Mighty Thor! He wouldn't be defeated by this foe!

"Lady Nate would be most displeased with me if I don't get you to eat, young one." Thor informed the toddler seriously.

Jamie blew spit-bubbles at him in return.

"It is very good?" Thor offered as he raised the spoon close to Jamie's mouth, the toddler stubbornly turned his head away.

Thor frowned as he pulled the spoon back and waited till Jamie was once again looking at him.

"I'll show you how good it is." He declared before placing the spoon of baby-food into his mouth.

The toddler watched him with an intent expression that made him look like his father as he froze before heavily swallowing the food with an obviously faked 'Mmm' sound.

Jamie was unconvinced—a completely unimpressed look that was the picture of his mother—and refused to eat any of the food no matter what Thor tried.

(Unbeknownst to Thor, Tony had watched him attempting to feed his nephew through Jarvis. Bruce had thought he was having a fit when he came to burrow something from Tony and found him silently shaking on the floor.

He hadn't been impressed that it was just a laughing-fit after watching Thor try to feed Jamie—Bruce privately pitied Thor as he had once been given the task to feed Jamie and knew how hard of a task it was.)

* * *

Nate frowned as she poked at her arm under Tasha's questioning and slightly amused green eyes.

"What's wrong Nate?" She finally asked.

"I've been out for months, right?" Nate asked making Tasha nod in agreement. "Then why am I not as out of shape as I should be?"

That caused Tasha to pause as she stared intently at her friend and she cursed herself. She had been too emotional that Nate had finally woken up that she didn't question that Nate could walk around the day she woke up—Steve wanted her to rest and gain her strength and that was the only reason that Nate wasn't spending all her time with Jamie as Tasha helped her in the gym.

Nate still had the lean muscles that Tasha had helped her gain when they should have decreased and withered while she was sleeping.

"Perhaps Steve's blood is the reason." Tasha suggested making Nate nod thoughtfully.

"When I married Steve, I was certain I would die before him." Nate said abruptly. "He doesn't age like the rest of us, and I was certain I was going to grow old and die long before he did. I hated that thought, but I love him so much. I wanted to treasure every moment with him, so I decided to be selfish when he asked me to marry him and never told him my suspicions.

He's already lost so much, I didn't want him to be confronted with the fact that he would watch his wife age at a faster pace than him before she finally died. Perhaps now, with his blood, I'll have longer with him and my son."

"Nate." Tasha didn't say anything more, Nate knew she wasn't sure how to express sympathy and such.

"Darcy's in love with Bucky, she'll be good for him. She's so bright that she'll make sure Bucky doesn't stay stuck in the dark." Nate said, her gaze fixed on the weights she was meant to be lifting. "She'll have to deal with the same suspicion that I had, and I hate it."

Nate looked at her then with intent yet child-like eyes.

"How do you cope with the fact that you're going to outlive everyone you love, Tasha?"

Tasha wasn't surprised that Nate knew that she had been part of Russia's super-soldier programme and had realised that Tasha was most likely a lot older then she looked.

"I don't know." Tasha admitted to both herself and her friend. "It's only recently that I have people I care about."

Tasha could never say love, could never bring herself to say that word and everyone understood it. Love had been beaten into as a weakness, something only for children.

"We'll have to figure it out together then." Nate said firmly making Tasha smile slightly.


End file.
